The general principles of operation for a plasma centrifuge are well known and well understood. In short, a plasma centrifuge generates forces on charged particles which will cause the particles to separate from each other according to their mass. More specifically, a plasma centrifuge relies on the effect crossed electric and magnetic fields have on charged particles. As is known, crossed electric and magnetic fields will cause charged particles in a plasma to move through the centrifuge on respective helical paths around a centrally oriented longitudinal axis. As the charged particles transit the centrifuge under the influence of these crossed electric and magnetic fields they are, of course, subject to various forces. Specifically, in the radial direction, i.e. a direction perpendicular to the axis of particle rotation in the centrifuge, these forces are: 1) a centrifugal force, F.sub.c, which is caused by the motion of the particle; 2) an electric force, F.sub.E, which is exerted on the particle by the electric field, E.sub.r ; and 3) a magnetic force, F.sub.B, which is exerted on the particle by the magnetic field, B.sub.z. Mathematically, each of these forces are respectively expressed as: EQU F.sub.c =Mr.omega..sup.2 ; EQU F.sub.E =eE.sub.r ;
and EQU F.sub.B =er.omega.B.sub.z.
Where:
M is the mass of the particle; PA1 r is the distance of the particle from its axis of rotation; PA1 .omega. is the angular frequency of the particle; PA1 e is the electric charge of the particle; PA1 E is the electric field strength; and PA1 B.sub.z is the magnetic flux density of the field.
In a plasma centrifuge, it is universally accepted that the electric field will be directed radially inward. Stated differently, there is an increase in positive voltage with increased distance from the axis of rotation in the centrifuge. Under these conditions, the electric force F.sub.E will oppose the centrifugal force F.sub.c acting on the particle, and depending on the direction of rotation, the magnetic force either opposes or aids the outward centrifugal force. Accordingly, an equilibrium condition in a radial direction of the centrifuge can be expressed as: EQU .SIGMA.F.sub.r =0 (positive direction radially outward) EQU F.sub.c -F.sub.E -F.sub.B =0 EQU Mr.omega..sup.2 -eE.sub.r -er.omega.B.sub.z =0 (Eq. 1)
It is noted that Eq. 1 has two real solutions, one positive and one negative, namely: ##EQU1##
For a plasma centrifuge, the intent is to seek an equilibrium to create conditions in the centrifuge which allow the centrifugal forces, F.sub.c, to separate the particles from each other according to their mass. This happens because the centrifugal forces differ from particle to particle, according to the mass (M) of the particular particle. Thus, particles of heavier mass experience greater F.sub.c and move more toward the outside edge of the centrifuge than do the lighter mass particles which experience smaller centrifugal forces. The result is a distribution of lighter to heavier particles in a direction outward from the mutual axis of rotation. As is well known, however, a plasma centrifuge will not completely separate all of the particles in the aforementioned manner.
As indicated above in connection with Eq. 1, a force balance can be achieved for all conditions when the electric field E is chosen to confine ions, and ions exhibit confined orbits. In the plasma filter of the present invention, unlike a centrifuge, the electric field is chosen with the opposite sign to extract ions. The result is that ions of mass greater than a cut-off value, M.sub.c, are on unconfined orbits. The cut-off mass, M.sub.c, can be selected by adjusting the strength of the electric and magnetic fields. The basic features of the plasma filter can be described using the Hamiltonian formalism.
The total energy (potential plus kinetic) is a constant of the motion and is expressed by the Hamiltonian operator: EQU H=e.PHI.+(P.sub.R.sup.2 +P.sub.z.sup.2)/(2M)+(P.sub..theta. -e.PSI.).sup.2 /(2Mr.sup.2)
where P.sub.R =MV.sub.R, P.sub..theta. =MrV.sub..theta. +e.PSI., and P.sub.z =MV.sub.z are the respective components of the momentum and e.PHI. is the potential energy. .PSI.=r.sup.2 B.sub.z /2 is related to the magnetic flux function and .PHI.=.alpha..PSI.+V.sub.ctr is the electric potential. E=-.gradient..PHI. is the electric field which is chosen to be greater than zero for the filter case of interest. We can rewrite the Hamiltonian: EQU H=e.alpha.r.sup.2 B.sub.z /2+eV.sub.ctr +(P.sub.R.sup.2 +P.sub.z.sup.2)/(2M)+(P.sub..theta. -er.sup.2 B.sub.z /2).sup.2 /(2Mr.sup.2)
We assume that the parameters are not changing along the z axis, so both P.sub.z and P.sub..theta. are constants of the motion. Expanding and regrouping to put all of the constant terms on the left hand side gives: EQU H-eV.sub.ctr -P.sub.z.sup.2 /(2M)+P.sub..theta..OMEGA./2=P.sub.R.sup.2 /(2M)+(P.sub..theta..sup.2 /(2Mr.sup.2)+(M.OMEGA.r.sup.2 /2)(.OMEGA./4+.alpha.)
where .OMEGA.=eB/M.
The last term is proportional to r.sup.2, so if .OMEGA./4+.alpha.&lt;0 then, since the second term decreases as 1/r.sup.2, P.sub.R.sup.2 must increase to keep the left-hand side constant as the particle moves out in radius. This leads to unconfined orbits for masses greater than the cut-off mass given by: EQU M.sub.c =e(B.sub.2 a).sup.2 /(8V.sub.ctr) where we used: EQU .alpha.=(.PHI.-V.sub.ctr)/.PSI.=-2V.sub.ctr /(a.sup.2 B.sub.z) (Eq. 2)
and where a is the radius of the chamber.
So, for example, normalizing to the proton mass, M.sub.p, we can rewrite Eq. 2 to give the voltage required to put higher masses on loss orbits: EQU V.sub.ctr &gt;1.2.times.10.sup.-1 (a(m)B(gauss)).sup.2 /(M.sub.c /M.sub.p)
Hence, a device radius of 1 m, a cutoff mass ratio of 100, and a magnetic field of 200 gauss require a voltage of 48 volts.
The same result for the cut-off mass can be obtained by looking at the simple force balance equation given by: EQU .SIGMA.F.sub.r =0 (positive direction radially outward) EQU F.sub.c +F.sub.E +F.sub.B =0 EQU Mr.omega..sup.2 +eEr-er.omega.B.sub.z =0 (Eq. 3)
which differs from Eq. 1 only by the sign of the electric field and has the solutions: ##EQU2##
so if 4E/rB.sub.z.OMEGA.&gt;1 then .omega. has imaginary roots and the force balance cannot be achieved. For a filter device with a cylinder radius "a", a central voltage, V.sub.ctr, and zero voltage on the wall, the same expression for the cut-off mass is found to be: EQU M.sub.c =ea.sup.2 B.sub.z.sup.2 /8V.sub.ctr (Eq. 4)
When the mass M of a charged particle is greater than the threshold value (M&gt;M.sub.c), the particle will continue to move radially outwardly until it strikes the wall, whereas the lighter mass particles will be contained and can be collected at the exit of the device. The higher mass particles can also be recovered from the walls using various approaches.
It is important to note that for a given device the value for M.sub.c in equation 3 is determined by the magnitude of the magnetic field, B.sub.z, and the voltage at the center of the chamber (i.e. along the longitudinal axis), V.sub.ctr. These two variables are design considerations and can be controlled. It is also important that the filtering conditions (Eqs. 2 and 3) are not dependent on boundary conditions. Specifically, the velocity and location where each particle of a multi-species plasma enters the chamber does not affect the ability of the crossed electric and magnetic fields to eject high-mass particles (M&gt;M.sub.c) while confining low-mass particles (M&lt;M.sub.c) to orbits which remain within the distance "a" from the axis of rotation.
In all processes which create and then manipulate a plasma, a large amount of energy is required. Specifically, energy is required to vaporize and ionize the plasma material. On top of this, additional energy is required to create the magnetic and electrical fields that are needed to contain and manipulate the plasma. Consequently, the economic feasibility of using a plasma process such as a plasma mass filter or plasma centrifuge to separate one material from another depends significantly on energy considerations. Further, the throughput rate and separation efficiency also effect the energy input that is required to operate a plasma process.
In plasma processes such as a plasma mass filter, particles tend to travel along magnetic field lines in either direction. Consequently, for particles introduced into a magnetic field, approximately half of the particles travel in one direction along the magnetic field lines while the rest of the particles travel in the opposite direction, along the magnetic field lines. For a cylindrical vessel having magnetic field lines that are parallel to the cylinder's axis, wherein particles are introduced at one end of the vessel, only approximately half of the particles will travel toward the second end. The other half of the particles will collect in the vessel at the point of introduction. Consequently, for a plasma mass filter having a simple cylinder configuration, only about half of the material introduced at one end will effectively travel towards the exit at the opposite end and thereby undergo separation. A consequence of this is that about half of the material will need to be reprocessed.
In light of the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a plasma mass filter for separation of low-mass particles from high-mass particles that is configured to increase energy efficiency, throughput rate and separation efficiency. It is another object of the present invention to provide a plasma mass filter having twice the throughput as a simple cylindrical plasma mass filter by introducing vapors into a magnetic field, perpendicular to the magnetic field lines, and to then allow half of the plasma that is generated in the filter to travel along the magnetic field lines in a first direction toward a first collector and the remaining plasma to travel in the opposite direction toward a second collector. It is another object of the present invention to provide a plasma mass filter for separating low-mass particles from high-mass particles that prevents a substantial amount of the particles from exiting the vessel at the point of introduction. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a plasma mass filter which is easy to use, relatively simple to manufacture, and comparatively cost effective.